A Memory of Summer
by Uzuru Emi
Summary: Ageha is a youkai whose true form is a butterfly. Human life is a fleeting moment for her. One day, as she sits in the shade of the sunflower meadows, she reminisces a time when she met a boy who could see her.


**This is a one-shot. I hope Natsume's character isn't so different from how he really is. It's summer in the southern hemisphere now so I write a story for summer. **

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**A Memory of Summer**

A gentle breeze cast over a meadow that was in full bloom with sunflowers. The tall stalks of the golden flowers sheltered the sunlight from entering under their petals. In the depths of the shadows cast by the happy flowers was a swallowtail butterfly whose was granted a youkai form by a mountain god.

The wisps of golden-yellow hair, the same colour as the sunflowers, shielded her eyes, which were masked by a cloth mask with the character for butterfly written on it in blood. She was wrapped in a simple white yukata that hid her legs and only revealed the tips of her fingers. Her name was Ageha, a name given to her by a human she had met one summer.

Ageha remembered that the summer she met him was much like this one. A warm summer time when this meadow was only coated in blades of evergreen grass and nothing more. How many decades has that been? Was he still alive? A human's life was a fleeting moment for youkai.

But that summer, long ago, was something really important to Ageha. For the first time in her life did she meet a human who could see her. A smile slid onto her pale lips but the joy in her eyes was hidden behind her mask. It was a fond memory that she would never forget. Even though it was so long ago, it was as vivid to Ageha as if it has occurred only yesterday.

_- Many, many decades ago - ************************************************************************************************_

A peaceful evergreen meadow sat at the bank or a riverside. No human ever came there for there was neither a town nor a city in miles of that meadow. There was nothing there except for grass and a single butterfly youkai that fluttered between the lonely greenery. There was not a single flower for her to rest upon not any sign or life other then herself.

She sighed to herself changing into her youkai form. The wisps of golden hair were blowing in the gentle breeze and her white yukata was fluttering against it. It was awfully boring here in this empty meadow. Nothing to do, no one to talk to. Though even if a human did ever pass by, there would never be able to talk to someone they couldn't see or hear.

As she was listlessly letting herself blow in the wind, a boy's voice caught her attention.

'Nyanko sensei! Where are you, Sensei?!' the voice called out.

She saw a boy in high school age, as humans called it, with sandy blonde hair and warm golden eyes yelling and searching for something.

It was a human! A smile grew on her lips. She would tease him a bit! After all, no one ever came here and this was a rare chance.

The youkai silently crept behind him and tapped on his shoulder.

'Wahh!' the boy cried out and she chuckled. This was fun!

'Hey, it's not nice to laugh at others!' The boy said in anger.

The smile faded off her face. The boy… the boy was talking to her! Did he hear her? Could he see her?

'What's with that bewildered look? You're the one who surprised me first! Geez youkai are so mean.' He said again, looking directly at her. 'Now where did that fat fur-ball go?'

He knew she was a youkai! He could see her! For a moment she didn't know what to think.

'Eeek! He saw me.' She said and started to run in the opposite direction, her hands flailing in the air above her.

But something grasped her arm and yanked her back. 'Wait, I want to talk.'

This was a rare chance to converse with a human who could see her so she decided that maybe it might be fun.

'I'm Natsume Takashi, what your name?' He said with a kindly smile.

'I have no name to give to a human.' She replied though in fact a lowly youkai of her level had no name.'

'Oh, is that so?' the boy who called himself Natsume said warmly. 'Nyanko Sensei went off somewhere so I have spare time before he come back. Mind talking to me a bit.'

'Nyanko Sensei?' she questioned.

'Ah, he's a youkai but he was sealed into a maneki neko statue.' Natsume answered. 'Anyway, might you tell me about this place and what your doing here?'

'This place is just another meadow. But it is very peculiar that you can see me. Are you not afraid of me?' She asked cautiously. It was the first time she had talked to a human.

'Well,' the blonde boy said with a sigh as if getting ready to explain a long story, 'There was once a time when I hated being able to see and was afraid of the youkai and ayakashi that I could see. Being able to see was painful for me. I was too young to understand.'

'But now I've learnt that seeing is not so bad. I've gain many friends and learnt many new things because I was able to see.' He continued. 'Now I try to talk to youkai whenever I see them though there's not always a good outcome.'

'I-' she began to reply but a fat, round fur ball slammed right into her face.

'Ow!' The butterfly youkai clutched her face with her hands, nursing the lump on her forehead.

'Nya-Nyanko Sensei?! What are you doing!?' The Natsume boy said, picking up the ugly round thing into his arms.

'Oh, I was only protecting you. I though it was going to eat you.' An old man's voice came from the mouth of the pudgy cat.

'Where did you go in the first place?! Uh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?' Natsume asked lending a hand to help her up.

'I'm fine. A flying pig-cat won't bring me down.' She replied, rubbing her head.

'What did you say!?' the cat raged in anger.

'Nyanko Sensei?' Natsume chided the cat, 'Anyway, we better leave. We can't leave Natori-san waiting.'

'Tch, just leave the exorcist brat alone. Nothing good comes out of mixing with him.' The cat said.

'Uh, um wait! Will you come back tomorrow?' She finally asked, eager to see the boy who could see her again.

'Huh? Perhaps. I'll be in the next town for another week so maybe I'll come visit until my time here is up.' Those were the last things the kind boy said to the youkai that day.

The youkai butterfly was waiting patiently and as he had promised, he came again with her ugly youkai cat but this time he brought some Manjuu sweet buns to share. The boy and the butterfly youkai talking about little things as they ate. It was her first time tasting human food and she found it strangely delicious.

The next day the boy came again and the day after that as well. Everyday the boy and her would chat about things about the human world. Those days went on until the last day the boy would visit came.

For some reason, she was feeling a sort of lonely sensation in her chest. It was new feeling to her. She didn't want the boy to stop coming, she wanted to see him again. Today she waited patiently as she had done for the past week. Surrounded by the low-cut grass the filled the otherwise empty meadow. She hadn't noticed it before but it was rather lonely being the only things in the meadow.

'Hello. I brought something special today.' Natsume said as he approached.

'Ah, Natsume, you're here.' She said, attacking him with a sudden hug.

She clung to him for a while until Natsume's cat peeled her off of him with a head-butt.

'Look here.' Natsume handed her a big bag with images of yellows sunflowers sprawled across it. 'I thought this meadow looked lonely so I brought some sunflower seeds. Your hair reminded me of these flowers and maybe they could keep you company when I leave.'

'I-I won't be lonely when you're gone!' She replied with a slight blush of embarrassment.

Natsume only chuckled in reply. He had a truly gentle smile and a kind laugh.

'Won't you tell me your name since this is the last day?' he voice was soft and warm. She really liked it.

'A lowly insect youkai like me has no name but I can show you something special' She answered taking of her mask to reveal silver orbs for eyes that glistened.

The shimmer from her eyes suddenly engulfed her body and her body slowly disappeared leaving only a single swallowtail butterfly. Its golden wings the colour of her hair but a silver shimmer the same as her eyes engulfed the butterfly.

'This is my true form.' A tiny voice came from the butterfly. 'If you plant the seeds I can help spread the pollen.'

'How beautiful. Ah, I know! How about, Ageha?' Natsume said suddenly.

'Ageha?' she questioned.

'He means your name. Like the Ageha-chou (swallowtail butterfly). He's naming you Ageha.' The cat, Nyanko or something the other, explained for Natsume.

'Thank you.' Those words could not convey how much it meant to her for him to give her a name.

That day Natsume and Ageha planted all the sunflowers and watered them. After that day the kind and gentle Natsume and his fat cat never came again. How many years it had been since then she didn't know. Ageha smiled at the memory and changed herself into a swallowtail butterfly to flitter and flutter between the sunflowers that her dearest friend had planted.

Human life is a fleeing moment but a youkai's memory last forever.


End file.
